Waiting for frost

The summer's over, autumn is well and truly here. Gorgeous mists over the river in the mornings, with islands of trees emerging as the mists drift. A few cold mornings have meant that I'm now waiting for the first frost of the season, which will reduce the Ricinus plants to blackened stumps.

The smell of autumn is so evocative. It brings back memories of dahlias being prepared for showing (dad was a very successful shower of dahlias in the '70s). The smell of vegetation starting to break down, wood smoke and the smell of an imminent frost. Fantastic. It may be a foretaste of the cold and dark of winter to come, but to live in a country with such different seasons is amazing.

Putting the garden to be is the key job of the moment, although there are still plenty of blooms in the garden. The Schizostylis coccinea is still looking great, as are the Japanese anemones. The Verbena continues to attract butterflies into the garden. Mr HappyMouffetard trimmed the lavender flower heads and mowed the lawn, which is still growing quickly and completely recovered from the lack of water through July. Tomorrow we're down on 'the plot' to start digging beds, so hard work ahead. The beds may have to be double dug, with a lot of forking to remove perennial weed roots. No doubt more photos of the hard work to follow tomorow.